Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 4 [of 7] : A dictionary, historical and comparative, of the heterodox speech of all classes of society for more than three hundred years. With synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, etc.

Step into a richly layered record of unconventional speech from more than three centuries. This volume explores slang, cant, colloquialisms, rhyming phrases, thieves’ language, legal terms, Americanisms, Scots expressions, and everyday intensifiers, revealing how people across different classes and professions shaped language.

Each entry offers definitions, variant forms, cross-references, suggested synonyms, and examples drawn from plays, novels, newspapers, dictionaries, and scholarly sources. Discover why “idea-pot” meant the head, how “I desire” could signify a fire, what made someone “ikey,” and the many meanings hidden behind familiar words such as “ignoramus” and “immense.” With comparisons to French, German, Italian, and other languages, the collection is both a practical reference and an absorbing journey through changing attitudes, habits, humor, and social life. It invites listeners to hear history in the words people used when speaking outside the bounds of formal language.